Brenda Gonzalez

Artist Statement:

I am a mixed media artist working in sculpture and animation. My work investigates memory, especially regarding the passage of time and the idea of Home through sculpture, mixed-media, and animation. I strive to connect rose-colored nostalgia with elements of an imperfect present. My experiences growing up in East Los Angeles inform and ground my work. I often use materials sourced from thrift stores and dollar stores that could easily be found in a low-income American home, such as the one in which I grew up. My work explores the idea of “making do” or “getting by” by seeking to imbue these deserted or nearly obsolete objects with new life. I try to use the textural qualities of objects such as placemats and bathmats or the tired nature of forlorn furniture to invoke the flora and fauna-like qualities that inspire what I call my “creature” sculptures: amalgamations of objects stitched together by the idea that perhaps an entity that is half memory and half make-believe may quell present-day anxieties. In my animations, I activate the malleable components of my sculptures to further explore the type of spaces these creatures inhabit and their reasons for even existing. I wonder if the combination of objects imbued with memory could have the same soothing effect as a stuffed animal, for example, and question what it is that may make a home, even if at times unkempt or deformed, a safe space worth investing in emotionally.